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We are the voice of trucking.
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Welcome to Key Up New York, the official podcast of the Trucking Association of New York.
I'm Zach Miller, the director of Metro Region Operations here for TANI and I'm joined by...
Steve Babarakis. I am the foundation of the Shay Legacy...
I'm the manager, rather, of the Shay Legacy Foundation.
And, you know, we have a lot to talk about today in terms of what the Shay Legacy Foundation does, the workforce development that TANI is working on, but as you a long time listeners and viewers know, we like to kick things off with an icebreaker.
And today we're actually going to stay on theme with our icebreaker.
So I'm curious, Steve, what was either, you know, your first job or the first job you remembered? You know, what you did when you were younger?
Oh my gosh, I had so many.
My first job ever, I was 13 or 14 years old and you ever been to a wedding or like a bar mitzvah or a big party where you go get your picture taken and then they roll the picture onto the refrigerator magnets and then they give it to you instantly?
I was the roller. So I was like 13 years old at these parties and these drunken people were coming over to me like, hey, I got to want my picture.
So that was my first job and then I had a ton of others from there. I worked at Target for a little while as like a cashier, worked at a car wash.
When I was 16, I actually worked as a bar back, which was an interesting experience and learning how to communicate with people. So it was quite a few throughout the years.
Definitely had various jobs where drunk people would just come up to you.
Yeah, yeah. Now that I think back on it, yeah, absolutely.
It's good for podcasting, I think it's that good, good experience.
I think it's helpful in a lot of different realms to be honest with you. You learn how to deal with drunk people. I think you can deal with sober people a lot better.
I would agree with that. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I am, you know, I know I mentioned on a previous podcast, but in high school and college, I think it's a good experience.
I worked in high school and college. I worked for my dad. I did a lot of his paperwork, really organized the parking tickets and we could have a whole episode on New York City parking tickets.
We probably will at one point, but in addition to doing that, you know, so that's what I did for money.
But then I also had some internships. The craziest one was I actually had an internship for the New York City Parks Department.
I had government experience in New York City, you know, fast forward to what I do now.
And the fascinating thing, which I didn't even know until very recently was somebody who I work with now in New York City DOT worked in the same department I did.
Yeah, for that internship. It was crazy. I'm like, I knew she worked for Parks. That's why we were at a press event and I brought it up.
I'm just like, Hey, I don't think I told you this. She's like, No, I was in that office. And I was like, do you remember that?
Well, yes, with the loud voice who? Yep. So it's like, it's it's funny how it, you know, you're young and you're working and you don't know how it's going to translate.
But it always seems to find a way to. It does. I've said this to you before, but it's a small world and it's a smaller state.
It really is. Everybody knows everybody and it's good. You have those connections from when you were younger, but they translate to what you're doing now.
No, it's it's awesome. And so let's talk about what it is you're doing now. So if you can just give a really brief history of the Shay Legacy Foundation, and then we could talk about, you know, what we're going to be working on moving forward here.
Yeah, of course. So the Shay Legacy Foundation is essentially the Trucking Association's workforce development arm is what I like to call it.
We are a 501C3 so we're able to do some things that Tanny is maybe not able to do as far as like coming at it from more of the philanthropic side really.
So we have a lot of different programs all designed to get people into careers in trucking, whether that's drivers and diesel technicians, which is obviously the biggest need in our industry right now.
But then we also talk to folks who are looking to get into more of management roles in trucking or dispatchers or every trucking company's a business so they need marketers and they need, you know, accountants and things like that.
So we just want to get people good qualified people into our industry. The foundation was launched in 2021.
It's named after the Shay family. It was a very influential family in the trucking industry for a long time. And we did some work, mainly through Tanny staff for a couple of years, and then I believe it was July of the last year of 2023, when the Tanny board kind of made the decision we need to do more with this.
We had purchased a truck driving simulator which we'll talk, I'm sure more about. And we were waiting on it still but I think the board kind of just talked through there's so much that we can do from a workforce dev standpoint.
And our staff at Tanny is kind of always running in a million different directions so let's bring on somebody that actually can commit to this full time they're walking into the office every day and that's the first thing on their mind as opposed to, I don't want to say an afterthought but it can become that when you're in the mix of a million other things
in July I was already working for Tanny as you know as the program and events manager and I've had a soft spot I guess you could say I've had a passion for what the foundation does since I started and I spoke with Kendra about you know kind of moving into that role and we interviewed and it's been history from there.
Well it's I mean it's workforce development it's also just engage engaging younger people I mean you could see by by what you're wearing out that just the engagement of young people putting them on a solid path and a foundation for life has been a passion of yours for you know certainly as long as I've known you and I imagine for for quite some time so it really is such a such a natural fit there.
And that speaks to the fact that you know you come in to the foundation.
The mission is workforce development and and just so people are aware following up on what Steve was saying.
I think something like one in 29 jobs in the state of New York is trucking related and again far beyond the driver and the mechanic there's so much there and trucking is also a very much a meritocracy where if you work hard and show that you want to move up you will be moving up so it's a great place for people from all walks of life to enter in so many different ways.
But you came in with pretty much a blank canvas right and taking the year going around the state with the simulator talking to people.
You really carved out a really fascinating program that the foundation is going to be working on moving forward.
Yeah, very very excited about it and you're right I think this first year.
We obviously have had programs in place that were running but it was a lot about kind of getting a feel for where we fit in. There's a lot of folks doing workforce development there's a lot of folks doing workforce development specifically in trucking.
We don't want to recreate the wheel. We want to find a way to fit in what's already been doing what's already being done rather and and kind of enhance that.
So that's where the inside trucking program you're referencing comes in.
We actually it came from I'll just give you the kind of brief history of where it started and you were involved in some of this as well but for the listeners of viewers.
We were working with a group called make manufacturing and industrialization council.
Okay, yeah, there you go. Thank you.
They're based down in New York City.
And we had been been bringing the simulator around the state and we had been going to career fairs. We had set up some things with just public schools where they would have their students come out and use the simulator.
Kind of do a survey of the students find out who might be interested in the trucking industry and then we would work with them.
And make reached out to us and they have a program called inside industrial and the purpose of their program is kind of what our program will be turning into is to get students that have some interest in whatever the industrial field is in this case trucking and get them onto the site of a company that's actually doing that give them the ability to talk to people who are doing it day in and day out.
And in our case we have the benefit of also bringing down the truck driving simulator so that they can get some real life behind the wheel experience and I know you've talked about the simulator on on the show before so I won't belabor it but it's a it's a state of the art machine.
We actually just put in an enhancement where there's now motion seats. So every bump you see on the screen you're actually going to feel in your seat and it's it's unbelievable and drivers have been in it and speak very highly of it but that's a little bit of a tangent so we start working with make and we're putting
this program and we end up hosting it at Sprig their facility in the Bronx longtime member of Taney. It was an overwhelming success. Yes 100% we had students from I don't remember the name of the high school do you remember the name of the high school that came it was five
minutes from the Sprig facility in the Bronx. It's like there's a there's a name in my head that I know is wrong that's why I don't want to say it out loud. But was it a horseman.
Regardless I guess it's not it's not necessarily important to the story and Zach will look it up just so that because we're both like that. But they had about 10 12 maybe 15 students. I don't remember the exact number come to Sprig.
We set up a lunch for them. Half the students went on a facilities tour where they got a chance to speak with I think two drivers driver manager dispatcher some folks that are actually involved in another aspect of their business that the testing the actual testing of the fuel
blends to make sure it met proper criteria. Yep. So they really got like a nice overarching glimpse into what Sprig does on a daily basis. And then the other group would be in the simulator and they got to take rounds in different scenarios actually simulated driving a truck and then the group swapped and it was it was great.
We had some really really good conversations with students and what came out of that was actually one of the students was so interested they ended up doing a summer internship at Sprig.
And then I think they just got hired as an apprentice for the coming year so I believe they're going to be in their senior year of high school and they're going to be apprentice part time at Sprig as well.
And that's kind of it sparked my brain. Well, this is great and this is makes inside industrial program but why can't we do this across the state. It's not a legwork wasn't crazy going into it and and this is something I can do and we have all these connections through TANI.
So I said inside industrial that's a good name. How about inside truck. And so that's that's where that came from. So we're really I mean I wouldn't say rinse and repeat. There are some aspects of what we're hoping to do that might be slightly different from what they do.
But but that's our plan is to launch the inside trucking program in the fall. Yeah, no it's really exciting that event was incredible. I can't find the name of the high school of course as soon as we click off on the recording it'll come to me.
That's how that works. But it was it was amazing to see the passion that the students had in the trucking industry and then all aspects of it where you know we had a couple of just talking to us being like yeah I really just want to be a mechanic.
Like that's what I want to do. I always just felt really comfortable with my hands and I just want to work on these vehicles. And the thing that's key. And this is where you know so glad to have such a focus on it in an inside trucking I guess there are two things but a big one is their teacher was just as passionate as they were and just as excited to show them the facilities to get them in the simulator to have them talking to
companies like Sprig that are looking to hire them. That is not necessarily uniform throughout the state. So you know identifying those teachers those counselors who are who have that passion and can steer the children in that direction is really fantastic.
And you know to that end starting them younger right like it's not like going to necessarily the career fairs where people are a little bit old you know not old but older and had some more work experience where it's just like let's get them when they're young excited about the work they could be doing.
And part of it I think is it's going to have to be a shift in the mindset of folks in our industry of some of that work is not going to be instant payout. It's not going to be instantly you find this person and in the case of that Sprig intern that's great.
I mean they had an intern for the summer and and maybe that person stays with them. That's not always going to be the case but it's still important because it's I like to say I like to use this phrase it's planning that seat.
It's showing them that and even if it's sitting in the back of their mind for the next five years it's showing them that trucking is a viable industry getting drivers to talk to them about how much they love their jobs and we hope as we go to these facilities that drivers are talking about all the aspects of their job that they love because everyone has an aspect of their job that they don't like obviously but you know we're we're we're putting that seat in the back of their head and when they get to that point of choosing a career or maybe they try something and they're they're changing that.
They're changing their career the payout might be 10 years down the road but it's still important work worth doing. That's exactly it. Yeah. Yeah. And and it's also like really really glad right to see the employer like the Sprig really excited about it like like I think I think Sprig was more excited about this event than anybody.
And those were the email so I was just like flippant or is like oh yeah they were they were so so so on board and it's like. You know there nobody is going to just walk into a company and be excited in and of themselves right.
It's it's like you walk into someone's home. It's like you know you want to feel welcome. You want to feel you know like you're an invited guest and having the employers have that mentality throughout the state is another like part of this that we can really focus on.
You know I think that was one of the missing pieces that we've had for a while which is where we're seeing some of the labor challenges that we're seeing in our industry. It's huge. And I would say because the audience of this show is mainly
fleets I would say is is Tanny members who are representative of fleets and we need fleets to be involved in this program. That's the one thing that we're kind of reaching out to fleets right now and finding them from across the state that can be involved.
Excuse me. And the one thing I would say as sort of a pitch is the other aspect of it is it gets your employers excited about what they do.
There's not many times where you get to share with the younger generation all of the things about your job that are awesome. All the things that make it great. All the things that you love about coming into work every day.
For drivers it's I like to use this phrase you have your temperature controlled office and you don't have somebody over your shoulder telling you what to do looking at your screen you are driving in some cases across the country in some cases locally and you are in full control of your day.
And to give them the chance to kind of think about that. I think it can help with some employee satisfaction and just getting them excited about about what they do. That's another aspect of it.
Yeah that's exactly it. It's it's it's it's anywhere right. It's so easy to get jaded like it's so easy to fall into a routine and get jaded and it's always get good to have that dose of reality and optimism and just sort of enjoyment and inside trucking is going to give that all across the state.
Absolutely. Yeah. And then the other piece of inside trucking that I should mention is in addition to students coming onto the site of fleets where in some cases we may be limited to 10 or 15 students or you know we want to keep it safe obviously.
And I would like to get some of our Tandy member fleets onto the site of some of these public schools across the state as well. Just again it's exposure. It's getting your company name out there that in some regards that's a little bit of free marketing.
And it's getting you know an even greater number of students into the simulator and the ability to talk to some of your staff. So that's kind of the other side of this program that we're launching.
There is that really great video you did where I think you took you took the simulator to a school in the capital region and this this girl gets inside and she's just like aces it and she's just like oh yeah my grandfather was a truck driver like it's
it's just incredible like you don't you don't know what to expect going in right and then you just see the way these kids start interacting with the equipment and the simulations and it just like their mind like you see it happening in real time it's the coolest thing.
It is and it's a the the really cool part about it is you see that that girl specifically so her grandfather was a driver her father was a driver like all of her family was in the trucking business and her mindset still despite that was all these things are huge I could
never operate something like that when I say the girl was flawless it was unbelievable how well she did with the simulations that we through it was in her blood obviously yeah but she got out of there and she's like oh I think I could maybe do this and she
had never thought that before so that's why the simulator is so cool is it's eliminating some of those barriers some of those fears that people might have seeing this giant 18 wheeler or this you know whatever it may be coming this big dump truck coming down the street
and saying I could never drive that that's too big I I would be too scared I couldn't operate that they get to do it safely and they get to see oh I maybe could I'm baby I can do it and I had a lot of people
because you know that they know what I do and they're like hey have you ever driven a truck I'm like no but I've driven the simulator and they're like well that's not the same I'm like it's more complicated than you think it is
it is yeah it is and it's not it's not the same it'll never be the same it's it there's no way to make it the same but like I said we've had so many different and the other thing that we do with it and it's not really involved with the program that we're talking about is we bring it
on to our tanning member fleet so if you're a member fleet and you want to utilize this it's another free completely free aspect of your membership member benefit but we've had hundreds at this point of drivers get behind the wheel and sometimes they first get behind in the minute first
minute or so they're like yeah I don't know and then by the time they get out the seat they're like oh wow that's very realistic that's 95% of the feedback we get and the other 5% might be a driver that thinks that they can drive standard and haven't done it in 20 years
and get upset so I happens not calling out anyone specifically but but it happens but no 95% of the feedback we get is that it is as realistic as it could possibly be the only thing is you can't look behind you and see what's on the road because it's just the other end of a 24 foot trailer
but yeah no it's great for a lot of reasons and then as the simulator is kind of showing these students that hey this is something that I could do we also have staff that are obviously there and this is what we do a gentleman Vincent Danito Rusty Stetzel who works for the
Trucking Association and myself are at all of these events so we are talking to these students about other elements of the industry about hey the starting salary for a driver in this country is over $63,000 you can go through CDL training which we can help you pay for another aspect that we won't talk about today
and you can be making over $60,000 in the snap of a finger and if you want to be over the road you can make a lot more than that
it's funny as we go to public schools sometimes we'll tell teachers that and they're like oh crap I might need to make a career I didn't realize that you can make that much money
no seriously and it is fascinating right because then there's also and you know there are opportunities to have free CDL training but even then you know the cost of a CDL out of pocket versus the cost of a four year college degree out of pocket
I mean it's night and day to then I've seen what some of these entry level jobs are paying and I'm talking about New York City right where things are a little bit on the higher end no entry job comes close to $60,000 at all and with your mountain of debt on top of it
it really is something that you know the more we talk about the pay and the opportunity you see the wheels start moving being like you know I may not have been going down the way the road I should have been let me let me course correct here
Oh absolutely and then the other aspect of it is is what you mentioned earlier and a lot of what we're saying we're preaching to the choir of our audience but here's a plug that's why it's important to share this podcast with other folks and just kind of you know get information about our industry out there
the more that we can get it out there the better we're going to do as it's reaching young people or people looking for career changes but the other aspect is is exactly what you said you know how many members we have that are on our board of directors that are in senior leadership C-suite level positions at their organizations big and small
that started as a driver or started as a technician that don't have that four year degree or maybe their company had them go back and they paid for their four year degree but they went the route of hey I'm going to start off and at the time maybe it wasn't $60,000 but I'm going to make good money immediately and I'm going to work hard
and I'm going to show my competency and I'm going to move up there are countless cases like countless cases and and that's another thing that we can talk to students about and we can show them specific examples of hey I can call this guy on my phone right now he started as a diesel technician and now he's running the entire sales operation for this major corporation it's amazing
it's absolutely amazing it really is one of the last you know great meritocracies that we have here especially you know in terms of big industry in the state of New York and and I just feel like that's another thing that came out of the Sprig event was you had some of these students you know really excited hey I want to work with my hands this this is what I want to be doing and a couple saying you know I this is really interesting I could see myself working here at some point
but you know my parents do want me to go for your college route and it's like yeah it's not one or the other it is it is both it is you could do what you want and that's exactly what we've seen you know we have the testimonials of people starting working the company encourages them to get that degree they go through that
degree you don't you don't have to get a four year degree starting at the age of 18 you know it's it and with online classes and stuff there's so much more flexibility built into the system which is fantastic and that's another thing like hey talking to these kids it really helps them plan out a future that would work for them more than you know a cookie cutter type of thing it does yeah I think we have the student at the Sprig event you were talking to him quite a bit and I think I joined in the conversation at lunch he was the student at the time
he personally really liked working with his hands he liked he potentially wanted to be a diesel tech or a mechanic of some sort at the time and his parents wanted him to go to college and he had really good grades and you could get into a four year school and we were like you know you could you could do both yeah you could be in this industry with a four year degree and he's like really yeah I could go I could still do something absolutely you can there's countless opportunities and the more that you are able to do something
and the more that you are able to do and more that you are able to demonstrate that you have the ability to do the better off you're going to be the higher you're going to rise that's exactly it yeah so somebody either and whoever is watching this they could be an employer they could be a representative of a school maybe they're just a fleet that wants to take the simulator for a spin how would they get in touch with you and the Shea Legacy Foundation reach out to me give me a call send me an email I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that
I don't know if you're watching this video I'm going to be able to do that but it's Steve at NYTrucks.org and or you could call the TANI office here 518-458-9696 I think hopefully
that sounds right
if not it'll be on the screen and yeah just give me a call and let me know how you want to be involved we also have other programs we we do a Jailster Jobs program so if you're interested in having formerly incarcerated people work for you.
There's a lot of information about how great of employees formerly incarcerated people can be and there's tax benefits for you as an organization so.
You know we work in a lot of different realms so if you want to be involved in anything we do our website is actually going to be launched in the next day or so so you can also go to Shea Legacy.org.
And check out more about what we do right right on there.
Whether it's inside trucking or any of the programs we would love to have anyone involved.
Steve thanks so much for joining us today and thanks for all the work that you do to really get the workforce development up and running and make sure that people all across the state have access to the great careers that we offer here.
Thank you I'm Zach I to close.
You can close but to my last tidbit is I thought we were going to go off on so many more.
But we did pretty good of staying on track here so I'm proud of.
I'm very impressed and just so you guys know there's actually nobody behind the camera right now it's just the two of us in the studio so I think that makes it even more impressive that we didn't go on some crazy tangents here.
Yeah our bosses will be impressed that we stayed on topic so thank you very much Zach I appreciate it.
Absolutely please be sure to like subscribe and share and we'll see you next time on Key Up New York.